Short Summary

The President of Iraq, Ahmed Hassan Bakr, was shot in his left arm and shoulder in an unsuccessful assassination attempt by an army officer on August 26.

Description

The President of Iraq, Ahmed Hassan Bakr, was shot in his left arm and shoulder in an unsuccessful assassination attempt by an army officer on August 26. First reports of the attempt were published by a Lebanese newspaper on Wednesday (September 1).

The newspaper, "Al-Moharrar", said the officer shot the President during a garden dinner party as Palace lights went out. The officer escaped in a waiting car, but was found dead the next day in a Baghdad suburb with several bullets in his neck and head.

Two hundred officers have been detained pending investigation.

This library film shows President Bakr in Cairo in April 1963 signing the Union agreement between Iraq, Syria and the United Arab Republic, and being welcomed on his return to Baghdad.